The election fever seizing the country is showing some very interesting symptoms, with politicians and citizens blowing hot over several issues, some real, others manufactured. But it has only left me cold. Come tomorrow, I will not be seen casting my vote at any polling centre.

No, I am not anti-Barisan Nasional (BN) or anti-PAS, nor am I anti any party. Come to think of it, I am not pro-BN, pro-PAS, or pro- any which party. I am just a very apolitical animal, whose wish goes no further than to mind my business, lead my own life and sort out life's attendant problems like the incessant bills to be paid.

Don't get me wrong. Don't call me an irresponsible citizen. I had been a very conscientious voter once, when the late Dr Tan Chee Khoon (photo) was the MP representing my area. Way back then, I was among the first at the polling station. I had wanted to register my enthusiasm to elect him as my MP by voting early. But I have not voted since the last time Tan was the candidate for Parliament.

Genuine voice

I adored that man. Whenever he received any parliamentary papers, he would read every page, jot down every point that comes to mind. When debate for a subject took place (for example, the all-important Budget debate) he would be that one representative who would make the important observations, ask the pertinent questions, and demand the most detailed answers from the government.

He knew the weight of responsibility he shouldered as an MP, and proceeded in his duty with a deep sense of mission and commitment. He was a very effective MP, a respected leader of the opposition, and one who championed the people's interest. I knew I had a genuine voice in Parliament through him.

Then Tan left the scene. The MP who took over from him (I cannot remember his name unfortunately) was the complete opposite. I would seldom hear of him asking any meaningful questions, but could easily imagine him sitting in one obscure chair or bench, saying "Yea" to any bill presented to Parliament for approval.

In the absence of Tan, I felt I had lost my voice in Parliament. Since then I stopped voting. I saw no point to it.

I did not wish to vote for the Alliance (as the Barisan Nasional was formerly known). It professed to champion the rights and interests of all Malaysians but I soon noticed that they went all out to champion Malay rights and interests.

Initially, even that was okay, for when the New Economic Policy (NEP) was propounded, everyone had a thread of sympathy for this socio-economic philosophy. The social contract was for the Malays to be given the opportunity to be at par with the other races in economic productivity. The implicit understanding was for them to change their mindset, catch up, and be at par with the rest of the world.

But it turned out that the Malays, having tasted supremacy in the political sphere, became quite arrogant in their position of power. They agitated for Bahasa Melayu as the medium of instruction in schools, they agitated for a Muslim state, they agitated for more scholarships, more places in universities, more business licenses under the ambit of the NEP. The government showed its true colours by not checking these excesses.

Rubber stamp

I then came to the realisation that Parliament was not the place for debating pertinent policy issues for conversion into law. It was effectively a rubber stamp playing second fiddle to the real policymaking institution - the Umno supreme council.

It is the leaders of Umno who would formulate national policies. They would virtually bulldoze through many irksome policies in the subservient Parliament. Since I am not an Umno member, I have no say in the selection of the all-powerful supreme council members. In any case, the political texts say that in a democracy, my voice is to be heard in Parliament, not in the boardroom of a political party.

So not only had I lost my voice in Parliament, I also had to change my understanding of democracy.

When the NEP expired (20 years after commencement in 1970), the Malays saw that they had not benefitted enough from it. This lack is not in terms of the government co-operation but of the targets they had set in the first place. They wanted the policy's continuation. So the government played along and converted its nomenclature from the NEP to the National Development Policy (NDP). The MP from my area would be one of those who voted 'yea' to all of these short-sighted and racially divisive social programmes.

I would have returned to the polling booth if any MP at the material time had come forward to state that the Malays had not met with their part of the NEP bargain, that the mindset that had pulled them down was still the same. The resources diverted to underwrite the NEP-NDP was beginning to resemble one huge bottomless pit.

But no government MP appears to have done so, and now the NEP and its successor the NDP would stay in place, perhaps in different guises, well into the future. Come to think of it, just who in his right mind will want to change a policy that provides him untold benefits and easy access to the good life?

However, the Malay bias in government development programmes is creating a severe backlash - many non-Malay students would refuse to return home after they have completed their studies abroad, and those who studied in local public universities would find ways to emigrate too. In both cases, the loser is one entity - the future of Malaysia. The fact of the matter is that many of the government's economic policies have created racial polarity in the country, the very devil the government had wanted to exorcise in the first place.

Islamic state

The biggest issue facing the people today is this idea of making Malaysia into an Islamic state. This must be a big joke. The Islamic state is an ideal that can exist only in the Holy Book. It cannot be implemented. History has proven it to be so.

No one country has succeeded despite its best intentions and concerted efforts. Just look at Pakistan, one of the last few countries that wish to be an Islamic state. What has happened to it? From one Muslim country partitioned from secular India, Pakistan itself separated into two Muslim entities - Pakistan and Bangladesh. So much for a united Muslim Brotherhood. Saudi Arabia, to quote another example, is an autocratic monarchy.

With my voice out of earshot at Parliament, I had thought that at least I could raise my objections, opinions, views, on at least some of these policy matters before they were implemented, or even after, in some public forum like the mass media. But again, the government of the day would discourage apolitical people like me from even debating these issues.

The reason they give is that these issues are 'sensitive subjects,' and must not be discussed in public; that all dissent must be made through the 'proper' channels, i e the political representatives. The mass media, needless to say, practise internal censorship. The irony is just staggering. Now, my understanding of participatory democracy really needs a re-orientation.

Am I being negative in choosing to abstain from the polls? Derelict in my duty as a citizen? But why should I take part in this farce of a democracy - where was my MP when all the retrogressive policies were debated and passed in Parliament?

He (or she) must have been there, voicing 'yea' to any government motion. there to make up the numbers for the two-thirds majority, thereby allowing the ruling party to amend the Constitution at will.

The opposition

This is why I do not want to vote for I cannot see another Dr Tan Chee Khoon representing me and making the necessary objections to at least some of these polices.

Won't an MP from the opposition be like Tan? Not to my reckoning.

Tan made his objections after deep analysis and evaluation of any issue at hand. The way I see it, the opposition members today would object merely for the sake of objecting.

In any case, should they come to power, they would be making more pronounced, more right wing policies where Islamicisation policies would overtake the already excessive 'Malay-isation' policies of the BN. The Malaysian dream would be buried under the 'Malaysia Boleh' approach.

Therefore, between the devil and the deep blue sea, I choose to stay away from the circus on election day.

AB SULAIMAN is an observer of human traits and foibles, especially within the context of religion and culture. As a liberal, he marvels at the way orthodoxy fights to maintain its credibility in a devilishly fast-changing world. In his free time, he loves to read, travel and play golf (although his game could be better).